Towns and Gowns Make Amends for the New School Year

On any given night of fall 2010, Pleasant Street could have been mistaken as a scene from Animal House. Couches were set ablaze, beer cans and cigarette butts were scattered about like apple seeds, and noise pervaded the campus vicinity at all hours of the night. These antics not only disturbed many of the Plymouth community members, but also caused a serious degradation in the relationship between residents and the University. A year later, though, town-gown relations have taken a turn for the better.

Frank Cocchiarella, Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs, described campus conditions last fall as the "perfect storm" that made way for an up rise in noise, vandalism, disturbances, and partying.

"First of all," Cocchiarella said, "Dick Hage retired." Former Vice President for Student Affairs Richard T. Hage, who had been a prominent presence on the PSU campus for over 30 years, left a rather large void.

"Secondly, we happened to have two straight weeks of phenomenal weather," added Cocchiarella. "Students were outside more, enjoying the weather, which provided more distraction and caused more noise." In addition was the period of three or four days between the times that students moved back to campus or to their houses off-campus and the first day of classes.

"Last year as a whole was really no worse than any other year, though," said Cocchiarella, who has worked on campus for over 25 years. "The beginning and end of the year were just a bit more riotous than usual."

To curb the riotous behavior, the University made extra efforts to be prepared with the advent of the new school year. "Whatever we had to do," said Cocchiarella, "we made it our priority to not start out on a bad foot with the community." The University implemented a joint patrol system between the University Police Department and the Plymouth Police Department, and has urged ResLife to take a more active role on campus.

According to UPD Chief Creig Doyle, there has been a 50% reduction in noise complaints from fall 2010 to fall 2011. "We clarified (in the town noise ordinance) what exactly a disturbance was," said Doyle, "and we have been more consistent with our enforcement (of the ordinance)." This year, Cocchiarella has also seen an unprecedented initiative taken on the part of the faculty and staff to foster good relations between students and community members. "There are a lot of faculty members that live in close quarters with students," said Cocchiarella. These faculty members have been more proactive than ever this year in promoting student behavior, which Cocchiarella says is probably "the biggest factor" in this year's decrease in unruly behavior.

Such involvement on the part of Plymouth residents is one of the most vital factors in paving the way towards harmonious relationships between students and members of the community. "This is not exclusively a college community, and not exclusively a non-college community," said Sean Bogle, Coordinator of Student Conduct and Community Standards at PSU. Bogle's main initiative at PSU is to bridge the gap between students, both on- and off-campus, and town residents, whether they consider themselves a part of the PSU community or not.

Bogle's first priority for students is "helping them to understand that responsible drinking is absolutely essential," he said. As most complaints about student behavior have roots in alcohol consumption, conveying this message to PSU students is vital.

But Bogle also makes every effort to approach the residents of Plymouth with the message that they are living in a shared community and must make their own efforts to regard PSU students as fellow community members. "Sometimes," he said, "the standard of the community is higher than that of the police," which can cause difficulty when trying to achieve a sense of unity. "But it is important for members of the community to realize that students are residents as well."

So far this fall, the community and the University have been comingling nicely. Cocchiarella said that Hurricane Irene, while devastating, was also one of the biggest factors in fostering positive relations between the two spheres of residents. "Everyone was affected," he said. "We pushed back move-in day and the start of classes, we opened up the University as a shelter for displaced town residents, and overall students were more sensitive (towards fellow Plymouth residents). Everyone was trying to help everyone out."

Last fall, he and a team of administrators organized the Community Relations Task Force to allow Plymouth Police, University Police, town and University officials, landlords, and residents to meet periodically and discuss community issues. The Task Force met shortly after school began, and Cochiarella said, "I have never heard so many positive comments as I did the other evening."

Plymouth did experience a bit of a backlash this weekend, as students got a bit rowdy with the homecoming celebrations. Some of the cigarette receptacles were uprooted on campus grounds, and Main Street was in slight shambles on Sunday morning.

Cindy Masera, owner of Ski & Sports on Main Street, was witness to some of the aftermath from last weekend's homecoming celebration. "Our flower box was pushed aside, the one in front of Off The Hanger was flipped over, and someone smeared a piece of pizza all over the front of our shoe window," attested Masera, though she said nothing compares to the "unwelcoming pile of vomit" that was left on their front step last fall. "Student behavior is generally consistent year-to-year," she said, "but I think most of us enjoy having the college students back in the fall."